Almost one fourth of patients with apparently sporadic pheochromocytoma may be carriers of mutations; routine analysis for mutations of RET, VHL, SDHD, and SDHB is indicated to identify pheochromocytoma-associated syndromes that would otherwise be missed.

HEOCHROMOCYTOMA AND PARAganglioma are tumors of the autonomic nervous system. Terminology in science and clinical practice is divergent. Herein, we use the term pheochromocytoma for location in the adrenal glands, extraadrenal abdominal, and thoracic locations (eg, where nearly all tumors are endocrinologically active). In contrast, the term paraganglioma is only used for tumors in the head and neck area where most tumors are nonfunctioning. All these tumors have been described as sporadic and as hereditary entities. [1][2][3] Estimated yearly incidence of

Cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin anticancer drugs are commonly used to treat lung, colorectal, ovarian, breast, head and neck, and genitourinary cancers. However, the efficacy of platinum-based drugs is often compromised because of the substantial risk for severe toxicities, including neurotoxicity. Neurotoxicity can result in both acute and chronic debilitation. Moreover, colorectal cancer patients treated with oxaliplatin discontinue therapy more often because of peripheral neuropathy than tumor progression, potentially compromising patient benefit. Numerous methods to prevent neurotoxicity have thus far proven unsuccessful. To circumvent this life-altering side effect while taking advantage of the antitumor activities of the platinum agents, efforts to identify mechanism-based biomarkers are under way. In this review, we detail findings from the current literature for genetic markers associated with neurotoxicity induced by single-agent and combination platinum chemotherapy. These data have the potential for broad clinical implications if mechanistic associations lead to the development of toxicity modulators to minimize the noxious sequelae of platinum chemotherapy.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) may be caused by germline mutations of the KIT and plateletderived growth factor receptor-a (PDGFRA) genes and treated by Imatinib mesylate (STI571) or other protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors. However, not all GISTs harbor these genetic defects and several do not respond to STI571 suggesting that other molecular mechanisms may be implicated in GIST pathogenesis. In a subset of patients with GISTs, the lesions are associated with paragangliomas; the condition is familial and transmitted as an autosomal-dominant trait. We investigated 11 patients with the dyad of 'paraganglioma and gastric stromal sarcoma'; in eight (from seven unrelated families), the GISTs were caused by germline mutations of the genes encoding subunits B, C, or D (the SDHB, SDHC and SDHD genes, respectively). In this report, we present the molecular effects of these mutations on these genes and the clinical information on the patients. We conclude that succinate dehydrogenase deficiency may be the

Hereditary paraganglioma syndrome has recently been shown to be caused by germline heterozygous mutations in three (SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD) of the four genes that encode mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase. Extraparaganglial component neoplasias have never been previously documented. In a population-based registry of symptomatic presentations of phaeochromocytoma/paraganglioma comprising 352 registrants, among whom 16 unrelated registrants were SDHB mutation positive, one family with germline SDHB mutation c.847-50delTCTC had two members with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), of solid histology, at ages 24 and 26 years. Both also had paraganglioma. A registry of early-onset RCCs revealed a family comprising a son with clear-cell RCC and his mother with a cardiac tumor, both with the germline SDHB R27X mutation. The cardiac tumor proved to be a paraganglioma. All RCCs showed loss of the remaining wild-type allele. Our observations suggest that germline SDHB mutations can predispose to early-onset kidney cancers in addition to paragangliomas and carry implications for medical surveillance.